History of

Urban Design-2
Islamic Era

Lecture no.4
 The Beginning of Islamic Urbanism:

The beginning of Islamic Urbanism can be considered in

622 AC
When prophet Mohammed immigrate from Makah to Al
Medina
 Types of Islamic cities

Non-centralized cities Centralized cities

Planned and built Planned and built

by people by the authority
 Types of Islamic cities

Non centralized cities:

Are the result of informal planning and natural growth
Is the group of buildings and the spaces between them which were built by Muslims following Islamic sharia
and local traditions with the use of local materials without intervention from the authority except in conflict
conditions.
 Types of Islamic cities

Centralized cities
Are the result of regular planning or formal growth
Are the cities that were planned and built by the authority for different reasons.
 Types of Islamic cities

1. Capitals:
* Cities where the governor lived such as Baghdad city the capital of Abbasids

Centralized cities
 Types of Islamic cities

2. Princes’ Cities “New Capitals”:

* The cities that were built when the governor decided to leave the old capital to
another one. Such as Samarra city when Caliph Mutassim decided to transfer the
capital from Baghdad. It located 70 mile to the north of Baghdad

Centralized cities
 Types of Islamic cities

3. Rabat:
* The cities where Muslim soldiers stayed to defend the country. Such as Rabat
city in Morocco.
Centralized cities
 Types of Islamic cities

4. Alamassar:
* The cities that Muslims built after their Conquests such as The city of Fustat in
Egypt.

Centralized cities
 Example of Centralized City

City of Baghdad:
• It was built by Caliph Mansour about 145 after Hejra.
 Example of Centralized City

main 4
Governor Roads
palace
Mosque & Wall

Main square
Water
trench

Residential Empty
City of Baghdad: area area for
defense
• The city had a circular shape.
• It was surrounded by 3 walls.
• The outer wall was surrounded by water trench.
• The outer area was left empty for watching and defense.
• The area between the inner and the middle wall was dedicated for residence.
• Inside the inner wall located “the main square- palace-mosque-soldiers…” .
• The city was divided by 4 main roads surrounded by commercial shops from both sides.
 Example of Centralized City

Outer Road

Local street

Gates
Gates

Inner Road

Residential
buildings

City of Baghdad:

• The authority divided the lands and streets in the residential areas.
• The authority didn’t interfere in the decisions related to residents’ buildings
• Even protecting the local streets was the responsibility of people.
• Each residential district contained several services “mosque- shops….”
 What about cities existed
before Islamic conquests ?
 Cities existed before Islamic conquests

• No major changes happened to cities that were planned and built before Islamic
conquests except the removal of the characters that contradicted with
religion.

• Building the mosque at a centralized area in the city

• There are many examples for those cities:

Give an example
 Cities existed before Islamic conquests

The city of Makah :

• It was an existed city when prophet Mohamed returned back again to it
• He didn’t change any of its urban components except that demolishing all idols there.
 Cities existed before Islamic conquests

• Also Alexandria city when Muslims went there they didn’t change any of its urban features
 Types of Islamic cities

Non-centralized cities Centralized cities

Islamic
Urban Guidance
 Source of laws in Islamic cities

Islamic Law was extracted from the Qu’ran

and the Sunna by al-Shafi’i (died 819), al-
Bukhari (died 870) and Muslim (died 875).

Once a system of Laws had been encoded,

others, such as Isa ben Mousa (996) and Ibn
al-Rami (1334) extracted and codified
Ahkam or building solutions out of the
more general Laws.

Principles behind these ‘solutions’, are

based, directly, on specific verses from the
Qur’an or the Prophet’s own practices from
the Sunna.
 Source of laws in Islamic cities

Local traditions or “Orf”: non formal laws which were put by the people themselves and
related to each community
What are the principles of Islamic
Urbanism?
 The Principles of Islamic urbanism

No harm: every one is free to.1

do any thing in his building and
town but without causing any
.harm to others

:Example
Allocating the activities that *
creates smoke and bad smells
away from other uses in the
.city

Tunis: plan of the Suq south of the Zaytuna Mosque

 The Principles of Islamic urbanism

No harm: every one is free to.1

do any thing in his building and
town but without causing any
.harm to others

:Example 2
Every one can add *
additional stories to his
building only if the new
heights won’t obscure sun
.lights and air from others
 The Principles of Islamic urbanism

Interdependence : by which people within the .2

.city they inhabit are considered interdependent
: Example
Alsabil : drink for free
Altekiah : to feed poor people
Alrab : residence for poor people
 The Principles of Islamic urbanism

3.Privacy: Protecting the family

especially women from the eyes of
strangers,

These affected the positions of windows

including their height above the street
so that people could not see in.

doors or windows Shouldn’t directly

face other

which of course led inevitably to

irregularities in façade design.
 The Principles of Islamic urbanism

3.Privacy:

Even the Muezzin, as he climbs

the minaret of the mosque to call
the faithful to prayer, is
forbidden to overlook neighboring
premises

Or he was chosen to be blind.

Or the minarets were built

blocked when overviewed the
roofs of the buildings
 The Principles of Islamic urbanism

Neighbor’s rights: Each person should respect his

neighbor and didn’t cause any harm to him

4. Pre-emption “El shofaa”: if a person wanted

to sell his property, the priority should be for his
neighbor first and if he refused, then any one else
could buy it.
 The Principles of Islamic urbanism

Neighbor’s rights: Each person should respect his

neighbor and didn’t cause any harm to him

Easement right .5
“Irtifaq”: when a
new building blocked
the way of abundant
building, the owner of
the new build had to
provide an access for
the old building
.across his owns
 The Principles of Islamic urbanism

6. Any public thoroughfare should never be obstructed by permanent or

even temporary obstructions.

Each owner, however, had a right to use that part of the fina immediately
outside his house for the loading and unloading of his beasts, and so on,

but still he had no right to block the fina (the fina is the exterior space
immediately adjacent to the exterior wall of a building, approximately one meter
in width).
And of course there were regional variations depending on
local climate.
What are the components of
Islamic cities?
 The Components of old Islamic cities

1.THE MAIN MOSQUE:

• It occupied the heart of the town.

• Attached to the governor palace
 The Components of old Islamic cities

1.THE MAIN MOSQUE:

• Attached to a square used for social activities

 The Components of old Islamic cities

1.THE MAIN MOSQUE:

.Attached to it the Madrassa providing religious and scientific teaching *

 The Components of old Islamic cities

2. SUQS:
* located near the main mosque
provided the economic
activity in the town.
* Goods sold were usually
spatially distributed
corresponding to their
nature.
* Suq contained other activities
like baths (Hammam) and
hotels (Funduq and Waqala).
Goods sold were usually spatially distributed
.corresponding to their nature
 The Components of old Islamic cities

3. CITADEL:
A military building and the palace of the governor, the citadel was surrounded by its
own walls and constituted a district on its own with its own mosque, guards, offices,
and residence.
 The Components of old Islamic cities

:City Walls .4

A well-defended wall surrounded the town with

a number of gates
 The Components of old Islamic cities

4. RESIDENTIAL QUARTERS:

* They were clusters of households

usually from relatives or persons who
share the same profession.

* They were usually dense and each

quarter had its own mosque used only
for daily prayers, Quranic school
(Madrassa), bakery, shops and other
first necessity objects.

* They even had their own gates which

were usually closed at night after last
prayers and opened early morning at
early prayers time.
 The Components of old Islamic cities

5. STREET NETWORK:

Connecting between residential quarters and to the central place was a network of
: narrow streets consisting of
,”the main public street “Casaba.1
,Semi public streets .2
”private cul de sacs “haraht.3

main public street

Private street

Semi public streets

AL BALAD-JEDDAH OLD
TOWN
 Old Jeddah
History of the city:

• The foundation of the city of Jeddah is dated back to around 3000 years
when groups of fishermen used to settle in it after their fishing trips.
• in the era of the third Muslim Caliph Othman Bin Affan in 647 AD he ordered
the city to be a port to welcome pilgrims (Hajjis) coming by sea for the Holy
Pilgrimage in Makkah.

• The wall surrounding Jeddah was built by

Hussain Al-Kurdi, who was one of the
Mamluk Princes to protect the city.

• The wall had six Gates; one on the side

facing Makkah : Bab Makkah, Bab Al-
Medina, Bab Shareef,, Bab Al-Bantt, and
Bab Al-Magharba.
BAB MADINAH

BAB MAKKAH
 Old Jeddah

Street Network

• the streets of Old Jeddah were

twisting, unpaved and , flanked by
closely-packed buildings.

• The configuration of the street network

was greatly influenced by the profile of
the city wall and the location of the
gates. Street network was established
on the alignment with the gates.
 Old Jeddah
 Residential quarters:
• The city of Jeddah was divided inside the wall into several quarters, which
were called 'Hara' by the people of the city. These quarters acquired their
names from their geographical locations inside the city or through famous
events they have witnessed:
•  Harat Al-Mathloum: this quarter was named after a man called Abdul
Karim Al-Barzunji, who was killed by the Ottoman government (mathloum
means innocent victim). It is located to the north-east inside the wall at the
north of Al-Alawi Street and includes Dar Gabel, Al-Shafei Mosque, and
Souq Al-Jame'i (market).
•  Harat Al-Shaam: is located in the northern part inside wall in the direction
of the Al-Sham region (currently known as Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and
Palestine). In this neighborhood lies Dar Al-Sarti and Dar Al Zahid .
• Harat Al-Yemen: is located in the southern part inside the wall, south of Al-
Alawi Street. It gained its name because it faces the direction of Yemen,
and includes Dar Naseef, Dar Jamjoum, Dar Sha'rawi, and Dar Abdelsamad.
 Old Jeddah

MARKETS or SOUQS

• The souq was the heartbeat of

Old Jeddah . Most of these
markets were associated with the
Mosques so the city became a
meeting place for the religious
scholars, traders and students

The ancient Markets of Jeddah

 Old Jeddah

AL-Shafie Mosque

Mosques (Masjid):
• Those mosques were constructed in
accordance with various styles of designs
and different schools of architecture
ranging from the "Fatimi" "Ottoman" .
• The mosques represented the central core
of religion and education.

Othman bin Affan Mosque

Morphological components of the city
 Islamic Urbanism

Was shaped by

Islamic legislations

Social habits

Environmental issues
Thank you … 